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New Radicals Information
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'New Radicals' were an American rock band in the late 1990s, centered around front man Gregg Alexander, who wrote and produced all their songs and was the sole constant member of the band. They released only one album, 1998's Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, a pop rock album, heavily influenced by 1970s' rock and soul, containing-amongst radio-friendly modern rock tracks and love songs-strong criticism of Corporate America.
The band is best known for their debut single "You Get What You Give", as much of the media attention around the New Radicals was centred on the infamous celebrity-dissing at the end of the song, rather than the profound substance and style of the New Radicals project.
Tired of touring and promotional interviews, Alexander disbanded the group in summer 1999, before the release of their second single, "Someday We'll Know", to focus on writing and producing songs for other artists.
Members
See also: Personnel on Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
The concept behind the band was a revolving door with no permanent members other than producer/singer/songwriter Gregg Alexander, and all other members changed from recording to touring to video shooting.
Apart from Alexander, the only other person to be considered a constant member of the New Radicals was the band's backup vocalist, former child actress Danielle Brisebois. Unlike other members of the band, she was both part of the recording of the album and appeared on several live shows (as background singer and percussionist), as well as in the music video to the band's second single, "Someday We'll Know", which she also co-wrote with Alexander and Debra Holland. Brisebois had also previously worked with Alexander on both his second solo album, 1992's Intoxifornication, and her first solo album, 1994's Arrive All Over You.
Other musicians who were at some point part of the New Radicals' live line-up include drummer Stuart Johnson, guitarist Bradley Fernquist, keyboard player Jim McGorman and bassist Sasha. The latter two were later also part of the house band in Rock Star: INXS.
History
The New Radicals were formed in L.A. in 1997 by Gregg Alexander, who had previously released two unsuccessful solo albums, 1989's Michigan Rain and 1992's Intoxifornication. The band's only album, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, was released on 20 October 1998 and reached #10 on the UK Albums Chart and #41 on the Billboard 200 in the US, where it also achived Platinum status (1,000,000 copies sold).
To promote their album, the New Radicals embarked on a tour through the United States, starting in fall of 1998. Apart from many concerts and festivals the tour also included several live performance on the radio, appearances at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Nickelodeon's All That and a performance at the House of Blues in Chicago on New Year's Eve 1999-which is probably the only New Radicals show of which bootlegs are circulating. They also opened for the Goo Goo Dolls on their tour starting 30 March 1999.
The album was followed on April 20 1999 by their first single "You Get What You Give" (co-written with Rick Nowels), which reached #36 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the UK Singles Chart, got heavy radio airplay and rotation on MTV and much media attention, in large part focused on the celebrity-slamming line "Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson/ Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson/ You're all fakes run to your mansions/ Come around we'll kick your ass in". When asked about it in an interview, Marilyn Manson replied he was "not mad that he said he'd kick my ass, I just don't want to be used in the same sentence with Courtney Love" and would "crack his skull open if I see him." Beck reported that "I was in a grocery store and he [Alexander] came running up to me, so apologetic, and saying, ˜I hope you weren™t offended. It wasn™t supposed to be personal.™ I was kind of pleased, because he™s a big guy." Alexander later explained that the line, along with the lines directly before it ("Health insurance rip off lying/ FDA big bankers buying/ Fake computer crashes dining/ Cloning while they're multiplying") was an experiment to see if the media would focus on the real issues, or on the celebrity dissing.
When the band canceled their appearance at RockFest as well as their UK tour (sheduled to start on 17 May 1999) rumors started they would break up, while MCA Records claimed an unspecified member of the band being ill was the cause for the canceled shows. The New Radicals went on to shoot the video for their second single "Someday We'll Know", however even before its release, Gregg Alexander issued a press release on 12 July 1999 announcing he disbanded the group. He stated that "the fatigue of traveling & getting three hours sleep in a different hotel every night to do boring 'hanging and schmoozing' with radio and retail people, is definitely not for [him]", that he "lost interest in fronting a 'One Hit Wonder' to the point that [he] was wearing a hat while performing so that people wouldn't see [his] lack of enthusiasm." and that he would go on to form a production company to focus on producing and writing songs freelance for other artists. His first producion work after the New Radicals' breakup was the album Portable Life by fellow Radical Danielle Brisebois. Despite the band's breakup and the resulting lack of promotion "Someday We'll Know" still reached #28 on the US Adult Top 40 and #48 on the UK Singles Chart.
In the following years Alexander worked with artists such as Ronan Keating, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Enrique Iglesias, often collaborating with producer/songwriter Rick Nowels. His most successful song as a producer/songwriter was the 2003 Grammy Award-winning "Game Of Love" by Santana and Michelle Branch.
In 2003, a new Gregg Alexander song entitled "A Love Like That" was released at . While it was uncredited, fans immediately recognized Alexander's voice and parts of the lyrics that had already appeared in the booklet for Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. The song was (as official sites listing Alexander's song repertoire reveal) written by Alexander and Rick Nowels.
Years after their breakup, the New Radicals' songs are still being used for several commercials and trailers (for example the trailer to the 2001 film Bubble Boy), TV shows (like Scrubs), on soundtracks (such as A Walk to Remember and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed) and covered by artists such as Mandy Moore and Hall & Oates. Also, in 2005 LMC did a remix of "You Get What You Give" which was released as "Don't Let Go" by LMC vs New Radicals.
In a 2004 Rolling Stone interview, highly respected songwriter and infamous industry cynic Joni Mitchell declared the New Radicals "the only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it... I loved that song "You Get What You Give." It was a big hit, and I said, 'Where did they go?' It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, 'Good for him.' I knew he was my kind of guy."
Discography
Albums
* Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (1998)
Singles
* "You Get What You Give" (1999)
* "Someday We'll Know" (1999)
* "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" (1999 one-track promotional single, possibly intended as the band's third single.)
Live recordings
Two live recordings of "You Get What You Give" were officially released:
* "You Get What You Give" (Live at WXPN's World Cafe) on Live at the World Cafe - Volume 8 (1999)
* "You Get What You Give" (Live at KBCO, February 1 1999) on KBCO Studio C - Volume 11 (1999)
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